Closing Bell for Monday on Wall Street: Markets Open Mixed, Fade to Lower Close

August 19, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning as the Nasdaq eked out a positive start. The rocky start to the week is being attributed to rising 10-year Treasury yields which hit 2.87% before markets opened this morning. There was no notable U.S. economic data released today, and relatively little released elsewhere. In Asia, house prices rose 7.5% in China and Japan reported a higher-than-expected trade deficit. In Europe, Germany’s house price index slipped 0.3% month-over-month. The rising long-term interest rate kept stocks down today.

The U.S. dollar index is trading lower today, now down 0.04% at 81.2210. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.2% at 649.92. WTI crude oil closed down 0.36% today, at $107.10 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.4% at $119.91 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.7% today at about $3.46 per million BTUs. Gold for December delivery settled down 0.4% today at $1,365.70 an ounce.